Alberta+Beard


 * SUMMARY: Alberta Beard, age 29, died March 14, 1930 after an abortion perpetrated in Chicago, evidently by Dr. David Lucas.**

On March 14, 1930, Alberta Beard, age 29, died at the office of Dr. Davis Lucas from an abortion performed there that day. Lucas was arrested on May 24, on recommendation of the coroner. Lucas was indicted for felony murder in Alberta's death on August 7. I have been unable to determine the final outcome of the case.

Alberta's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician. The mantra among abortion-rights organizations that before legalization, the world of abortion was a world of rusty coathangers and untrained quacks is false. Frankly, it's an insult to the abortion-minded women of yesteryear to assume that they were all so mentally unhinged or utterly mindless. The vast majority sought out professionals of the same caliber they'd go to for any other obstetric or gynecological issue.



Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1930s].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion].

Source:


 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]

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